Ferrari F1 driver Charles Leclerc has said he would be interested in competing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans sportscar race if he was given the opportunity to do so.
Speaking this week, Leclerc, who is entering his third season with Ferrari in the pinnacle of motorsport, said he is a huge fan of the unique race.
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“I love Le Mans! I’ve always been a huge fan of the 24 Hours and if the opportunity arises to drive it, I’ll be happy to take it,” Leclerc told the Italian edition of Motorsport.com.
“At the moment, my main focus is Formula 1, but if a chance comes, why not?”
His comments come hot on the heels of Ferrari announcing that they will be returning to the World Endurance Championship (WEC) in 2023 after not competing in the series for five decades.
In the same interview, Leclerc also opened up on his battle against COVID-19 and his preparations for the new season.
“Fortunately, it didn’t hit me in an aggressive way,” Leclerc said.
“I feel very good, I did some physical tests immediately after the positive test to be sure I was back in my usual form and the outcome was positive.
“I think I have never been as fit as [I am now] on the eve of a season. We have also done quite a lot of kilometres with the 2018 car and I feel definitely ready.
“I have also worked on myself to understand what to improve compared to last season, such as tyre management. Last year I made some progress in this respect, but I can still do better,” he added.
Charles Leclerc comprehensively outperformed his Ferrari team-mate, Sebastian Vettel, last season – and this year he will have a new intra-team rival in Carlos Sainz.
The 23-year-old will be eager to quickly establish himself as the team’s number one driver to give himself the best chance of ending the Scuderia’s Championship drought if they return to the front of the grid over the next few seasons.
Earlier this week, Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto said their simulations indicate that they have made significant progress in reducing the drag of their 2021 car relative to last year’s challenger, in addition to improving their power unit.
“I think that last year the main issue was the speed on the straight lines. Not only the power but both power and drag,” Binotto said on Friday.
“We’ve worked a lot both on the power unit and the car aerodynamics to reduce the drag of the car,” he said.
“And based on our simulations today, based on what we can see in terms of power output from the dynos and the drag of the car from the wind tunnel, I think that we’ve recovered quite a lot of speed on the straight lines.
“So I’m expecting the speed not to be such an issue as it was,” he added.
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